CINCINNATI — The University of Cincinnati baseball team charged past the Western Michigan Broncos 11-1 Friday evening at Marge Schott Stadium.

Junior left fielder Justin Glass’s two-run home run in the bottom of the third inning gave the Bearcats the lead and they never looked back. Glass tied a career-high with five RBIs in the game as Cincinnati moved to 5-9 on the season while Western Michigan dropped to 3-14.

Sophomore RHP Matthew Lathuras made his first career start for the Bearcats, going five innings, allowing just two hits and one run, while walking two and striking out three en route to his first victory of the season.

Glass went 2 for 5 with a home run, double, two runs scored and five RBIs and freshman third baseman Devin Wenzel went 2 for 4 with a home run, double, two runs scored and four RBIs to lead the way for the Bearcats. Additionally, freshmen Forrest Perron and Ian Happ also recorded multi-hit games. The Bearcats stole five bases as a team, including two by Happ, giving him six on the season to lead the club.

The Broncos kicked off the scoring in the top of the first inning. Right fielder Jared Kujawa drew a one-out walk, followed by a single by shortstop Andrew Sohn, advancing Kujawa to third base. During the next at-bat, the Broncos perfectly executed a double steal and Kujawa narrowly beat the throw home to give the Broncos a 1-0 lead.

It remained a 1-0 game in favor of the Broncos until the bottom of the third inning. Perron laced a two-out single followed by a two-run blast by Glass to give the Bearcats a 2-1 lead. It was Glass’s second home run of the season.

The Bearcats played add-on in the bottom of the fourth. First baseman Jeff Murray drew a lead-off walk and scored on a double by Wenzel. Catcher Woody Wallace followed Wenzel with a double of his own to make it a 4-1 game in favor of the Bearcats.

In the bottom of the seventh, Cincinnati scored a run without recording a hit. Happ was hit by a pitch with two outs and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Murray walked and with Wenzel batting, Happ scored on a double steal to up the lead to 5-1.

The Bearcats added some insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth. Brendon Neel, Matt Williams and Perron all walked to load the bases for Glass, who cleared them with a three-run double, making it an 8-1 game. Glass’s five RBIs matched his career-high, set on March 28, 2012 at Dayton. Following Glass, Happ drew a walk and two batters later, Wenzel launched a three-run home run to make it 11-1 in favor of the Bearcats. The home run was Wenzel’s team-leading third of the season.

The Cincinnati bullpen of Bryan Chenoweth, Matt Ring and Mark Downs threw a combined four scoreless frames, allowing four hits and no walks and recording three strikeouts.

Steve Laudicina started and suffered the loss for the Broncos. He tossed 6 2-3 innings, allowing seven hits, five runs and four walks while striking out six. Laudicina fell to 0-5 on the season.

The Bearcats and Broncos will get together Saturday afternoon for Game 2 of the three-game series. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. Redshirt freshman RHP Connor Walsh (0-0, 5.19) is set to start for the Bearcats and will be opposed by LHP Mike Moyer (2-1, 1.46) of the Broncos.